Apple's Sci-Fi Thriller Masterpiece Has One of the Best Seasons in TV History

In 2022, Apple was still navigating its streaming experiment, having not yet produced any breakout hits. Although a few sci-fi series like For All Mankind and Foundation garnered fans, they were far from mainstream successes. Then, Apple took a leap of faith on an unknown showrunner, Dan Erickson, and A-list actor Ben Stiller to create a revolutionary show.

Their creation, Severance, not only transformed Apple TV but also delivered an anti-work masterpiece at the perfect time. The show's first nine-episode season expertly captures the despair of modern society's "work-first" mentality. Erickson, who once worked in a door factory, takes this concept to its extreme, envisioning a dystopian future where companies surgically divide employees' consciousness into an "innie" and an "outie".

The series begins with protagonist Helly (Britt Lower) waking up on a work table, immediately thrust into a life dictated by her outie. Despite the attraction of a clear divide between work and pleasure, the cost is immense, as Lumon and its employees are condemned to lives of work and toil. The season answers compelling questions about the true nature of reality and the divide between inner selves.

Through Helly's acts of rebellion, she stirs discontent among her fellow innies, leading to inevitable resistance. The season's disorienting nature, filled with shifting identities and unreliable narrators, keeps viewers guessing about what's real and who can be trusted. While the first season is a nine-episode maze of intrigue and emotion, the second season, though still compelling, feels less cohesive with less satisfying storylines.

However, both seasons of Severance are phenomenal and will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the best seasons in TV history.